


Veins

by DeredereWrites



Category: Danny Phantom, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Dani's hero name is Spirit, Danny's bad at processing emotions, Depression & anxiety. Be warned., Ghost King Danny Fenton, Im not actually sure where this is going, It starts out really dark but I swear its gonna get better, The author projects onto the characters, Time Travel, Will add tags as I go, is time travel the right tag if it's just a city that's had time stopped for 200 years?, my hero academia takes place 200 years in the future, time stagnation?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:47:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23585608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeredereWrites/pseuds/DeredereWrites
Summary: Since the year 2020, Amity Park has been sheltered from the outside world from a dome made of ice and some sort of energy. But just because one city goes dark doesn't mean time stops moving forward for the rest of the world.In 2220, the dome is finally broken.
Comments: 99
Kudos: 570





	1. Broken

The barrier had been there for nearly 200 years, which didn't sound like much until you realized that quirks only started to belong to the majority of the population about 80 years ago. 150 years ago, you were hard pressed to find someone with a quirk, but it was possible. 200 years ago? Quirks, which weren't even called quirks (and looking back on it scientifically, the comic book name ‘metahuman’ fit the people more), were nearly nonexistent and dismissed as rumors almost immediately.

The barrier, a blue-green dome made of ice and some sort of energy, was completely opaque, and if the experts were correct, six feet thick, spanning the entirety of the town that was once called Amity Park. 

Amity Park wasn't a big town, nor a small one. But even the smallest towns had a bit of room to move around in them. The dome was large, and the experts had been trying to break it down for years. 

When the barrier first appeared, it was a search and rescue mission. Distress calls had been flowing out of the town, but nobody took it seriously because each one of them mentioned ghosts. The officials regretted not listening. 

A year after, it was a search and .. ? Well, they weren't sure. There were life signs, but they couldn't melt the ice, which only grew thicker every day. By miniscule amounts, yes, but it still grew. 

Ten years after it was put up, it was no longer a search and rescue. It was a search and recover. The ice was thick enough that even if there were living beings in there, they couldn't sense them. The energy lazily floating through it messed with their machines and their tech wasn't advanced enough to withstand it.

Twenty years passed. Fifty. Seventy. A hundred. By that time, they gave up. They found ways to take that energy and make it a clean, renewable power source. The earth was effectively saved from global warming with it. But nobody could break through the dome. 

Until the 200 year mark. 

In light of finally having the technology, one group of scientists found a way to harm the energy, by using itself, ironically. They took that and ran tests. Finally, they had developed the technology that they had assumed could break the barrier. At this point, they had nothing to lose regarding the barrier except money. 

The experiment was approved. 

On the day, there were scientists and heros from all around the world by the barrier. The heroes were there as a precaution, heeding the distress calls from before the town went dark. Though everyone inside was likely dead by now, killed by their own decision to quarantine themselves, it was better safe than sorry.

The machine the scientists created to knock down the barrier was a drill. They'd drill a hole through the barrier and send some people through.

They began drilling. Hours passed before the first crack ran through the dome. It stood out starkly against the pale turquoise of the ice, an electric green vein bleeding through, shining a harsh but vaguely recognizable light against the faces of those around the ice dome. It was, after all, the same source of energy most mechanical items used. 

Thousands more cracks branched from that one in the span of twenty minutes. Small chunks of ice fell off all around. The peak of the dome was the last to develop the cracks, but soon enough it did. 

And then all at once with zero warning, the dome shattered. Chunks of ice fell everywhere, the largest pieces about the size of the average human body and the smallest littered the ground as mock-snowflakes.

They couldn't see it at first, but as the dust cleared, there was a human figure floating at the peak of where the dome had been. They wore black and white, but neither the heroes nor scientists could tell from their standpoints what exactly they looked like. Their arms were raised, a blue green glow the same color as the ice had been emanated from their hands. Their arms dropped to their sides. 

And they plummeted down into the heart of the city. 

All Might and various other heroes leapt into action, trying to catch the falling figure before they hit the ground, but they weren't the only ones. Blue and green and white and orange blurs sped into catching them. All Might reached the person, a boy who couldn't be much older than his own apprentice, first. Milliseconds later, others with eerie, otherworldly glows arrived as well.

All Might fell, but his descent was controlled. He planned to land on a roof not too far away. He touched down with a dull thunk, laying the boy down gently. The others had followed him, the heroes who had been waiting now running through the town, looking desperately for other living beings now that they knew there were at least a few. 

“Back. Away,” one of the people surrounding All Might said, referring to the boy.

She looked a lot like him, actually. Similar suits, the same hair color. She wore a black suit with white gloves that stopped at her bicep. Her boots were knee high, with white stripes going up her sides. A white utility belt sat around her waist. On her chest was a white emblem, a bold S with small water droplets dripping from it as if the S was supposed to be made of water as well. She looked 14 ish. 

All Might did as she said. It was very clear that they were at least working together and he didn't want a fight if he didn't have to have one. 

“We're here to help,” All Might said.

“You can't,” a woman said. She had bright blue hair, which was on fire. Er, no, the hair itself was fire. “That dome was in hopes that we could keep Pariah Dark in if we couldn't defeat him. Now it's gone and he's disappeared.”

“Pariah Dark..?” All Might asked.

The first girl, S, was tending to the boy. Green bled from tears in his suit, some big enough to reveal green bruises around them. He looked tired.

“Who are you anyway?” another person asked. He had a dark shadow wrapped around his shoulders, the shadow glaring at All Might momentarily before going to help the first girl with her inspection of the boy.

“My name is All Might. My colleagues and I are here to help,” he repeated.

“All Might. That's pretentious,” S said. “The ring and the crown are gone.”

“What?” the fire woman hissed and moved closer to the two.

S shot her a glare and Fire thought better of it. They didn't trust her either apparently. But Fire was close enough to see. “Pariah must've taken them.”

All Might had no idea who Pariah Dark was, but he didn’t sound good. 

“If you can explain what's going on, we have medics in the vicinity who can take care of him,” All Might offered.

They all shared a look. “That's.. Probably for the best. I’m staying with him though.”

Fire shook her head at S. “You're the closest we have to Phantom, both visually and in terms of ability. On top of that, until he recovers, you're the acting queen. Everyone is more likely to listen to you. And, ya know, the only one the Fentons or Red isn't likely to shoot down on sight. I’ll stay with him.”

S looked horrified, though at which part of that, All Might couldn't tell. She looked back at the boy (Phantom?) and her face fell. “Fine.”

The shadow wrapped itself around the boy’s arm. It didn't seem to want to go anywhere either.

The shadow formed itself into a sort of platform and slid under the boy, lifting him up. 

“Well? Medics?” Fire said, gesturing for All Might to show them the way.


	2. Aftermath

Aizawa Shota’s days weren't usually so odd. He went about his business as a hero as best he could. He taught his students how to become heroes themselves. It wasn't often that he was volunteered to help with a potential threat in America by his superiors. 

What's more, the threat was a 200 year old dome that scientists had found a way to break through that actually had life inside of it. He ran through the broken town, craters and debris everywhere, though he’d yet to come across a body. He wasn't sure if that was good or bad. 

As he got closer to the center of the town, he encountered more and more people. Ten people. Four injured. One fatally wounded (who he’d brought to the team outside the town). None dead. They didn't have any visible quirks, but he wasn't surprised. 

He kept going in the direction of the people and eventually came across a large gathering. He was used to people with large and flashy aesthetic quirks. But there were so many here with them and the majority of people didn't. Had civilization kept going for the past 200 years? Had evolution decided that quirks were good here too?

The people were all terrified looking. Some were trying to help the injured stand. Some were calling out names to try and find their loved ones. But they all had that underlying fear. What had happened here? Did their breaking of the barrier cause this or was there something else?

He kept going. 

~~~~

Sam Manson didn't consider herself a coward by any measure. But she was scared. The barrier broke moments after Danny had put it up. Pariah Dark could be anywhere and they wouldn't know. She had stinging wounds all over her body, her skin sliced up and bloody, and she couldn't tell what was from the fight and what was from the ice shards. 

Tucker was passed out next to her, a large chunk of ice hitting him over the head when the barrier broke. He was in a similar shape to her otherwise, though there was also a nasty gash in his leg that might need stitches. 

She wondered where everything went so wrong.

Sam picked up Tucker bridal style and wondered where to go. Where could she go? The nearest hospital wasn't that far away, just a few miles outside of town and they probably heard the distress calls. Yeah, that worked. But could she carry him that far? 

She heard yelling in the distance and running footsteps. A man dressed in all black appeared and stopped in front of Sam. He looked vaguely concerned but also like he had bigger things to think about. 

“There's medics a few minutes in that direction,” he pointed behind him. “Just outside of town. Be careful, there are debris everywhere.”

And he kept running, using what looked like a scarf to jump over the large things, which wasn't just the ice. Collapsed buildings littered the area, buildings that stray blasts or large area range attacks had destroyed during the fight. 

Sam hadn't seen the man before but she assumed that for once, someone had taken Amity Park’s warnings and pleas for help seriously. It wouldn't do much now in terms of stopping the threat, but if there was a medical center in the vicinity, at least they'd be helping the harmed citizens.

She could only hope Danny wasn't doing too badly.

~~~~

Ember followed as All Might led them. Johnny’s shadow carried Phantom like a stretcher. It wasn't a happy sight. She'd been at odds with the kid several times, but she'd never actually hated him. But thinking back on it, she was sure that was exactly what it looked like to him. She should apologize.

_Danny dodged an arrow blazing bright green fire from it's tip. Ember hadn't known any of Pariah’s minions used arrows, it seemed an inconvenient weapon to her. She sent an electric blue flame back at them and heard a thud and then the rattle of bones scattering. It was weird that Pariah used skeleton ghosts as minions, (if they weren't just skeletons he’d unceremoniously ripped from their graves and then launched into battle) there were lots of other ghosts who she was sure could've been bribed into service, especially since he was fighting to take back the crown._

_But Phantom was determined not to let that happen. Pariah had caused enough suffering._

_Phantom was quiet for a moment and Ember could hear voices coming from the communicator he wore._

_“I need you to help out Team A. We have a plan but you'll need to distract Pariah,” Phantom said._

_Ember nodded. “Whatever you need.”_

Arriving at the med station described, it was clear they were overwhelmed. They obviously hadn't been expecting the city to be this destroyed. Although, she wasn't surprised about that.

What she was surprised about though, was the number of humans who looked so much like ghosts.

She'd learned in the thirty something years she'd been dead that a ghost’s appearance was influenced by how they expected themself to look. Sometimes the ghost could alter their appearance at will, though for some it was harder than others. Ember had gotten so used to looking at herself in stage makeup or in videos where the light washed out her color that even when she had been alive, she got a little spooked when her physical appearance didn't look the same as it did then. 

Skulker had expected ghosts to be small, blobby creatures who didn't remember much. He was never scared by ghost stories in life and didn't see the hype. So when he woke up and was certain he was a ghost, he had been mortally offended to learn he was exactly what he expected ghosts to look like. Ember had laughed when she heard the story.

Sidney Poindexter had only seen ghosts on TV, all black and white in the outfits they'd died in, forever haunting the place where they were attached to. In his death, he’d vowed to make it so that as long as he was in charge, no one would ever have to suffer through the things he had. So he (attempted) to haunt the halls of the school that had caused him so much hurt.

Desiree had died alone and hurting, feeling that she was worth so much more than how she'd been treated. She didn't tend to look at mirrors much, that small voice in the back of her head that sounded suspiciously like the emperor’s wife telling her she was awful making her not want to see her own appearance much for fear she might have been right. Eventually, she'd been dead for so long that she'd forgotten her own face. She had a face and objectively when you were looking at her, you’d say she was pretty. But you would always forget what exactly she looked like when you weren't in her presence. Desiree had made no move to change this. 

Ghosts were memory and feeling attached to bodies of energy, which most people just called ectoplasm, as it was easier. But these people were all still alive. She could hear their breathing, their heartbeats. She could feel them in an indescribable way that she could only associate with the living. And she had yet to meet any living human whose appearance was as over the top and dramatic as a ghost's.

There were regular looking humans there as well. Both kinds of humans rushed around, the citizens of Amity Park far overwhelming their capacity. Clearly, they hadn't planned for this many people, which was ridiculous considering that she’d been with the Manson girl when she'd made the first civilian distress call and she'd made it abundantly clear that this was a disaster and at that point half the people you came across had been injured in some fashion. 

All Might spoke to a woman. Ember couldn't hear them over the chatter around her, but she nodded and guided them to an open mat. She started checking Danny over.

“I have to go and make sure everyone who needs it gets here. Tell her what happened,” All Might told Ember.

Ember didn't feel like contradicting him so she just nodded and he left. She sighed and sat down next to Danny opposite the woman. Johnny's shadow wrapped itself around her shoulders.

“I’m not entirely sure what the full story is, but I can tell you what I do know. Yesterday, Pariah Dark was released from his prison. We all felt him, all us ghosts. His aura is hard to miss. So we fled to the human realm, here, because we figured our new king could protect us. He beat Pariah once, he could do it again, right?” Ember started.

_“He's free again,” Skulker said._

_Phantom's face drained of color. Ember knew he couldn't have thought his regular ghostly visitors and thousands he didn't know suddenly entering the human realm was good, but clearly he hadn't been expecting this. “How?”_

_“Why should we know?” Spectra rolled her eyes. “Most of us don't hang around his coffin like guards.”_

_“Not one of you saw something weird?” Phantom asked._

_“We usually keep our distance from Pariah’s Keep. And we’re all obviously scared, why would any of us do it?” Sidney asked._

_“Do you know how far he is from here at least?” Phantom asked._

_“Not too far, but he’ll likely be collecting minions, so it should give us time to prepare,” Desiree answered._

“So we all split off into teams with each other and the human hunters, preparing the town for Pariah’s invasion. They didn't believe us for the first few hours, but as Madeline and Jack Fenton got involved and started agreeing with us, they realized it was serious. They set up a safe house in the mayor's mansion. The mayor was nowhere to be found. But that didn't really work.”

_Ember was stationed outside the shield, guarding the place. All at once, the building started to shake and people came filtering out any way that they could. The building crumbled to the ground and the shield dissolved._

_Clearly, her assumptions about Vlad getting rid of, or at least deactivating his portal were wildly incorrect._

_Pariah Dark appeared through the rubble, a cynical and ominous grin on his face._

“I fought off his minions nonstop for a while. I helped Phantom keep him at bay a couple times with some of the others, and eventually Phantom and his team came up with the plan, or at least a last resort so that no one who didn't have to die wouldn't. I was never actually told what it was. Then he put up the barrier. The next thing I know, you’re here, the barrier isn't, Pariah Dark has disappeared, and he's falling from the sky,” Ember said, ending her last statement by gesturing to Danny.

The woman took in Ember’s story for a moment. “How long was the barrier up?”

“I dunno, two, three seconds at most?” Ember said.

“I think,” the woman said, very slowly, “that there was something very different about the perception of time inside and outside of that barrier.”

Ember raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Ma’am, it's been 200 years.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell Ember is my favorite DP villain?


	3. Existential pasta

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quiet conversations in a hospital

Sam talked quietly with Tucker. He’d been moved to a local hospital about an hour after they arrived at the described med station. He'd woken up late in the day and Sam had been by his side almost the whole time he was asleep. The doctors still wouldn't let her see Danny.

She'd been told that time had slowed drastically inside the barrier and two hundred years had passed. Every sign she saw pointed to that being correct. The advanced technology. The new terrain she could hardly recognize. The people with all new dialect (though everyone she came across spoke English, no matter what country they said they originated from. She'd been told it was because schools taught a mandatory English class to communicate better with the rest of the world. There was some historical reason involving “quirks” but she had no idea what that meant in that context.). It was overwhelming.

She didn't like the thought of being stagnant against decades of advancements that she'd never anticipated seeing. Her life was so strange already, so she knew she'd eventually get used to the existential crisis, but she wasn't sure when.

Then there was the whole deal with Pariah Dark going missing all of a sudden.

Tucker's concussion was easier to think about.

“Have they said when they’ll let me out?” Tucker asked.

“No. They’re keeping all the residents of Amity Park here for testing and physical evaluations. Even the uninjured people will have to stay a few days to make sure they're stable and the time thing didn't do anything too drastic to their bodies,” Sam answered.

They both whispered, despite no one else being in the room. The lights were dimmed and the curtains drawn because the light was just a bit too painful to look at right now. 

“Two hundred years. What happened in that time that we missed? That we weren't supposed to live to know?” Tucker asked.

Sam rested her head on the bedside table. “Average people have superpowers now.”

Tucker smiled. “Danny will fit right in then.”

Sam hummed and closed her eyes. “Looks like. I haven't heard anything about him yet. Elle’s the only one who's seen him since and that was just to answer some questions about him. At least, that's what the doctor said when he called her in.”

“I hope he's doing well. He held that up for what was two hundred years for the rest of the world,” Tucker said.

“Do you feel okay?” Sam asked.

“Sore. Headache. Everything’s too bright and too loud. But I’m still alive,” Tucker said. “You?”

“Concerned. Probably going to crash soon from all the caffeine I consumed to help me stay awake. Don't know who allowed me to get coffee,” Sam smiled.

“You look like you're already crashing,” Tucker pointed out.

She was nearly asleep. The bedside table wasn't particularly comfortable, but she had had an exhilarating day and hadn't gotten the chance to rest. She'd woken up various times throughout the night, despising the human need for rest while she could've been holding off the former ghost king and protecting her town. Eventually, she'd woken up and not been able to get back to sleep. She hadn't had a nap since. 

“Probably. Don't know where they plan to put us. Our town is collapsing in on itself,” Sam said.

“Here's to hoping they have better governments than they did then,” Tucker said.

Sam nodded. Tucker scooted to one side of the bed and patted the space next to him. “Come take a nap. You're tired.”

Sam stared at him for a moment then sighed and went to lay down next to him. She fell asleep shortly after, Tucker himself quickly following.

~~~~

Elle brushed a stray strand of white hair out of her face. Her eyes felt heavy. She was much more durable that most humans, but she did need rest and she hadn't had a lot since she arrived in Amity after receiving Danny's distress call.

_“Hey, ah, I’m not sure when you'll get this message but we're in a lot of trouble here. We need help. Call me back,” Danny's voice said over the phone._

_The message was sent maybe an hour ago and she hadn't heard anything since. Upon opening it, Danielle bolted in the direction of Amity Park._

She had too much to do before she could sleep. She had police to talk to, she had to make sure the ghosts who’d been launched forward in time weren't going to go on a rampage. She had to make sure the hunters didn't attack the ghosts. She had to answer the doctors’ questions about Danny's physiology (was that even the right word?). She just wanted a nap.

She yawned as she threw the wrapper of some snack she'd eaten in the trash can. She looked around at the waiting room around her. She was still in the hospital that she and the rest of the Amity citizens had been brought to for check up. The ghosts that had helped them out in the battle were all there too. Some were asleep (?) others were chatting with each other. It was kind of a surreal sight.

The door opened and in walked Valerie. She was bruised and scratched, but she didn't look too bad. At least the suit Vlad had made had done her some good, though it was probably broken down by now. Other than Danielle herself, Valerie was the only living person in the room.

“Hey,” Elle greeted. 

Valerie waved and walked over to her. “What are you up to?” 

“Trying not to fall asleep,” Elle smiled. “What about you?”

“Well, they let me roam the place. My dad's still asleep, but they say it’s nothing serious, just the exhaustion of the day catching up. Nobody can seem to find Danny though. The Fentons hope he got out before the barrier was put up,” Valerie said.

“What do you think happened?” Dani asked. 

“I think he's the same as you,” Valerie said.

Elle inhaled sharply and looked up at her.

“That isn't the face of somebody who's about to tell me I’m wrong,” Valerie said.

They'd talked in the time it'd been since Elle got stabilized. She explained how she'd come to exist and how the whole half living, half dead thing worked but had never said anything about Danny.

“I wanted him to tell you himself, if you were to ever find out,” Dani admitted. “How’d you know?”

“Have you met Wes Weston?” Valerie asked, an amused tone to her voice.

“No?”

Valerie grinned. “He’s the local conspiracy theorist. He’s had Danny figured out since practically day one, but nobody believes him because they don't believe anyone can be alive and dead at the same time. After meeting you and having you explain, it didn't sound so crazy anymore.”

Dani laughed. “You're taking it well.”

“It's probably been the most normal thing about today,” Valerie said.

“Yeah,” Dani agreed. The mood immediately went down. “Two hundred years. I met so many people, and they’re all probably dead now. I didn't get to talk to them again. I won't ever get to talk to them again.”

Valerie nodded. “Everything just seems so… Surreal. Like I’ll wake up and this was all just a bad dream.”

“That would be so much easier,” Elle said.

“We’re living in an existential crisis,” Valerie said.

Elle sighed and leaned back in her chair. “At least we're still alive to have the crisis. Ah, sorta alive? We still exist?”

“We still exist,” Valerie agreed.

And for a brief moment, as Dani looked at Valerie, everything was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So some of you may be confused at the chapter title which is valid but I'm here to explain it.  
> As I was writing Dani's sentence "We still exist?" Google's suggested replacement was "Do we still exist?" And i found it so funny, especially within the context that I screenshotted it and told my friend who told me that his autoreplace wanted him to type pasta after existential. So we have some existential pasta.  
> This feels like a shorter chapter than my last two and I'm not really happy with Dani and Val's scene there at the end but I don't know how to rework it. Giving a vague idea of how the time jump impacts the characters i guess. Also I'm not sure what ships I should do if any? I originally thought this up with everlasting trio in mind, but I'm not sure at this point. Let me know??  
> Also!! Im using both Dani and Elle to refer to Danielle if you couldn't already tell. I can't see her giving up Dani solely because she doesn't want to be confused with Danny, especially since she traveled so often and most people she met wouldn't even know who he was, but also I can see her using Elle so the people who do know Danny don't get them mixed up. Also they both sound cool.


	4. Drowning

Danny woke up, the back of his mind screaming “danger” but the rest of it telling him “back to sleep”. Deciding that the “danger” part was more risky to ignore, he sat up. His head and body protested, his core sending a stabbing pain through his chest. He stilled and when the feeling finally dulled, he looked around the room. 

It was a hospital room, which immediately made him feel wildly uncomfortable, but considering he couldn't feel his heartbeat and he was hyper aware of every single thing going on in the vicinity, he was still in his ghost form. That meant that they had almost no way to detect his vitals and they probably didn't know he was awake yet and pulling out the IV would only alert them to that. He wanted a little more time before he had to talk to anyone.

The place looked like a standard hospital room, maybe with better tech but Danny usually avoided hospitals so he wasn't an expert. He checked around for his phone, but didn't find it anywhere. He wasn't wearing his suit either, but instead a hospital gown and the implications of that was not something he wanted to think about. His phone must've been in his pockets?

Soon enough, the feeling of imminent danger faded to the background and he felt he could go back to sleep relatively safely. 

~~~~

When Danny woke up next, he was immediately aware of someone in the room. They stood next to him, probably writing if the scratching sound was any indication. He shifted in his bed and the writing stopped. 

“Are you awake?” they asked.

Danny opened his eyes and shifted so he could see them. They had soft bubblegum pink hair and light grey eyes. Dark grey horns grew from their forehead, pink gargoyle looking wings sprouting from their back. Their nametag said “Dr. Calloway”. Despite their unusual appearance, they were unmistakably alive, Danny could hear their heartbeat and the blood flowing through their veins. He sat there for a moment.  _ Well I guess the odd looking ghosts have to come from somewhere? _

“Where am I?” Danny asked.

“You're in the Chicago Medical Center, in Chicago, Illinois. What's your name?” Dr. Cal asked.

“Phantom,” Danny said.

The doctor hummed. “That's what the others called you. Is it not a nickname?”

“It's the name I chose, yes,” Danny said. “What others?”

Dr. Cal made their way around the bed to check the monitor (?) and wrote down something on their notepad. “Everyone you came in with. It's a very long story and it's best if you wait a little while before you hear it. At least until you’re healed some more. At the rate you're going, I don't think it'll be too long.”

Danny sighed and crossed his arms. He didn't like it at all but at this point he was too tired to really care. Maybe he should've pressed for the answer. But he'd get it later and this was a doctor so they probably knew better than he did right?

He hoped so.

~~~~

Maddie and Jack Fenton were understandably stressed. They'd just been thrown two hundred years into the future. But it was entirely possible that that was the least of their problems. Their son was missing. Nobody they'd talked to had seen him since the barrier was broken. Sam and Tucker weren't with him and Jazz refused to say anything about him and they hadn't found a single body in the rubble of the town and-

Well, the best they could hope was that he escaped when he could and had lived a natural life outside of Amity Park. It was the better fate between growing as you should've and being trapped in an era you were never supposed to see.

They didn't know where Vlad was either, but they were certain he hadn't been in Amity Park when the barrier was put up. He’d said a few days prior that he was going out of town and he didn't know when he’d be back. 

Maddie and Jack were drowning as if they'd never known how to swim in the first place, and maybe they hadn't. They didn't understand anything about this new time they now existed in. It was almost an entirely new world. If you had told them they'd been thrown into a new dimension, they would've believed you. But they hadn't and there wasn't a way to go back. Even in this time, time travel wasn't something people really had. There were documents of quirks (which was a whole other can of worms in and of itself) that could send the user up to a week backwards or forwards in time, or the user could stop time temporarily, but nothing they could use. 

The Fentons, along with the rest of the Amity residents, had been told by the local government that they were working on a housing situation that would be available for them until they could make their way out on their own. Legal papers documenting their existence were in the works as well. This government was much more efficient than the one they'd come to know and the people running it were kind. 

They could only hope the rest of the world would be the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have high hopes for the MHA universe. They got themselves together after the appearance of quirks slapped them in the face and told them their system hadn't been working for years.


	5. Dull

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All Might contemplates what happened, Danny is discharged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for.. Apathy?? Inability to feel depressed/stressed/anxious on the same level as everyone else?? Dull emotions??? What am I even supposed to call it?? Starts at the line break (~~~~ this thing) and ends at the end of the chapter. Be wary.

All Might had expected the barrier job to be a typical mission, saving people and moving on. But there was something about it that just wouldn't leave him alone and it left a feeling of impending doom. He wasn't quite sure what it was about this particular job, but whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

Which is why he roamed the hospital the injured citizens of the lost city were currently boarded in. He was supposed to have gone back home two days ago. It'd been four days since the job and he had yet to meet the boy who he'd caught in his arms. The doctors said he was still in a state of shock. He hadn't reacted to the news that he’d been moved 200 years into the future in what was just moments to him.

And that was what it had been. Moments. Seconds. Hardly enough time, it seemed, to even turn your head, let alone live for two hundred years. It wasn't an instant thing, as the citizens who were okay enough to tell him the story would attest. They remembered a sudden drop in temperature and for a moment, everything was silent between the fighting and the screaming and the crashing, it was so silent. 

And then the barrier had shattered. 

They'd cleared the area and found no bodies. Twelve missing, one hundred thirty-two injured, ten in the ICU, but no dead people. Or at least no dead people that weren't dead before whatever happened? There were several of them who claimed to be ghosts. All Might wasn't sure he believed it, but he also wasn't sure if he disbelieved it either? He was just really unsure of the whole thing.

The story, as he could piece together with the differing accounts, went somewhat like this:

It was a quiet day in the “human realm”. Somewhere around noon, ghosts started entering the human realm, warning of a threat to everyone in the vicinity. Approximately an hour later, the local ghost hunters started supporting their story. The people gathered into the mayor’s mansion, the largest shelter in town (although the mayor himself was nowhere to be found). 

The mayor, as it happened, had a portal to the “Ghost Zone” in the basement that nobody knew about. At 6:47 (a civilian remembered it vividly. They'd been staring at the time, irritated they had to be there), a ghostly villain called Pariah Dark destroyed the building, injuring several in the process. The villain destroyed many more buildings over the course of the next seventeen hours. Moments before 12 am the next morning, the barrier was put up.

At noon exactly, the barrier was shattered and their world changed forever. 

All Might had only spoken to the humans (living?) of Amity. The ghosts tended to avoid him, although the one white haired girl who he'd met (he’d since learned that the civilians called her ‘Spirit’, no sign of a real name anywhere) had caught the corner of his eye more than a few times. He always pretended he didn't notice her, but he'd like to talk to her eventually.

He couldn't imagine how any of this felt for them. All Might could only support those who needed it.

~~~~

Danny was apathetic. He’d felt that a lot recently. He wasn't sure why. None of the other ghosts were apathetic about it. They showed great displeasure, sadness, anger, and so much more about their new situation. But he'd been apathetic when it came to negative emotions for.. Well, it'd been a while. 

At first he figured it was stress. It should've been worrying that he'd been working himself so hard that he didn't register these sorts of emotions, but he couldn't recognize feeling worried. So he deliberately slowed down. But it didn't really help. He took advantage of not feeling constantly burnt out by doing everything. Turned out, this wasn't healthy. (Who could've predicted that?) 

He’d had a breakdown in his room at midnight one Monday. The emotions and tiredness hit him all at once and everything hurt. He was kind of glad he didn't need as much oxygen as a fully alive person because he really didn't like that tingly numb feeling his limbs got when he didn't have enough air. 

Finally, he gave in and told Jazz about it. She had been so concerned but Danny didn't get what was so bad about not feeling stressed. She told him that it was likely a reaction to an over abundance of the chemicals that caused anxiety and depression. He wasn't sure about all the technical terms, but from what he could gather, it was his body finally getting used to it. That struck him as another thought he should be worried about, but he wasn't.

He definitely was not constantly emotionless. He still felt happy whenever he made plans to hang out with his friends, it was still enrapturing to read something he didn't know about space and the galaxy. Thinking about certain experiences or being reminded of them (the incident with Dan, his death by electrocution) still left a heavy ball of anxiety in his gut. 

But he wasn't always able to process the full extent of the shock or the hurt he was supposed to when presented with something stressful. He just felt.. Kind of dull. It sort of made those happy emotions much more vibrant. Most of the time, it was far too late when he did finally get to it. 

This was one of those times. He’d been sitting in this hospital room for days. Danielle visited him. Jazz visited him. Sam and Tucker visited him. He'd enjoyed each one of those visits and he was so happy and relieved to see them safe. 

It was a very big disconnect between his friends who were distressed about it. He just couldn't feel the same degree of stress. But he nodded and agreed because how in the world would he go about telling someone that?

He looked to the door as Dr. Calloway walked in, their clipboard in hand with a smile on their face.

“Good news, Mr. Phantom. If all goes well in your physical today, you’ll be discharged,” they smiled. “Though we do advise you to see a therapist.”

Danny hummed and nodded and let them get on with it. The two talked idly during it, about what Danny was most excited to do and whatnot. Dr. Cal concluded the examination and smiled. “You pass with flying colors.”

“Thanks,” Danny smiled.

Dr. Cal walked him through what would be done to discharge him and then got into the other sort of stuff. 

“Legally, you don't currently exist, and neither do any of the other residents of the town you presided in. The government is working on getting your papers situated, but that requires filling some of them out on your part as well. You're currently considered a part of a sort of refugee program, which allows you to inhabit a home already paid for until you get back on your feet,” Dr. Cal said.

“Oh,” Danny blinked. That was efficient and convenient. The future was pretty nice. “When am I going to leave for it?”

“Well, it really depends. I believe if you work fast enough, you could likely get there today. There's a representative for the company hosting you coming along today to pick up the rest of the townspeople discharged and ready to go,” they said.

Danny nodded and got out of bed, stretching as he did so. The future probably wouldn't be that bad. Although, he had no idea what happened to Pariah Dark and apparently neither did anyone else…

Another problem for another time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I projecting my inability to process my negative emotions correctly onto Danny because I have zero idea how to write an adequate reaction to this and Danny's the main character that I'll be focusing on the inner thoughts of throughout the fic? Yes. Yes I am. 
> 
> To clarify, yes, emotions like stress and hurt and sadness are still felt when they are supposed to. It's just difficult for him to recognize what exactly he's feeling because it's so dull, like background noise of a busy street in a tv show. No emotions such as happiness or desire or romance or excitement are affected. I have no idea what the psychological reason for this is and I have no idea if there's a way to fix it. I just remember reading that a prolonged emotion such as depression or anxiety or the other things associated with it can cause the brain not to react to those as much anymore?? 
> 
> I'm projecting which means that I am writing from personal experience. It is not as angsty as it sounds and it won't really impact his daily life much. I am fine!! I am okay!!!! I am not suicidal or anything and I have no clue why I personally can't process this stuff correctly. You do not need to worry about me. 
> 
> Like I said I have no idea how to write an adequate reaction to this situation so projecting on Danny is going to make this so much easier and more enjoyable for me and with the explosion of emotion all at once when it finally becomes overwhelming will give some Angsty Boi Hours!!
> 
> Oh god I sound so deadpan ndjdjw I promise I'm alright!! Im just not good at words lol and I was trying to convey a serious tone in most parts. Uhhh but yall if anyone knows what the everloving hell this is called if it even has a name let me know so i can expand upon this topic with some actual knowledge and not just going "That's Me Babey!!" let me know!!


	6. Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Um. Sorry????

Danny was quiet as he walked down the hall, having changed back to human form in the bathroom. He’d gone too long without seeing his parents and he truly had no idea how he was going to explain his absence. He wasn't looking forward to it.

The representative was going to be here in an hour. Time had blurred together since he’d woken up initially. He met with Sam, Tucker, and Elle, also human, at a corner in the hall.

“Thanks for taking care of all the ghost-y stuff for me,” Danny said to Elle. 

“You’re welcome,” she said. “Most of those that helped us are pretty shaken up.”

“You ready to go see your parents again?” Sam asked. 

“... You wouldn’t happen to have an explanation of why I was missing for so long, would you?” Danny asked, only half joking.

They shook their heads. 

“Well. I’m ready as I’ll ever be, I guess,” Danny said. His heart felt like it was ready to beat out of his chest and he wanted to be anywhere but here. Unfortunately, he couldn't think of any way to avoid this that wouldn't cause him more trouble.

Madeline and Jack Fenton were waiting in one of the main waiting rooms, filling out paperwork for themselves. Jazz was working on the papers for herself, or at least the things she could do. She'd forgone the meeting in the hallway because it'd be strange if she knew what happened to Danny and didn't tell their parents. Sam and Tucker had more of an excuse, but not a very good one. Elle.. Didn't even exist to them. At least, not in any living capacity. Yet.

The four entered the room. Amity Park's citizens were already gathering to move to the new houses. They were going in groups, the town was too big to take all in one trip. Jazz, who was expecting Danny and his friends to show up, kept glancing at the door in anticipation. She smiled reassuringly at them and then made a show of frantically getting her parents attention and pointing out the four of them.

Maddie froze. Jack dropped his pen. For a moment, none of them moved. Danny wasn't sure what to do with his hands, or arms. Or just, at all. 

And then Maddie moved. She started walking towards him, disbelieving. And then she broke into a dead run, Jack following closely after. Danny nearly fell over with the force of their hug.

“Hi,” Danny said.

His parents held him tighter, if that was even possible. He was so relieved, but still almost overwhelmingly anxious. They hadn't gotten to the hard part, the explanations, yet. 

But for the moment, they just stood there. Jazz joined the family hug eventually.

Finally, his mom pulled away. “Where were you?”

Danny, for all he’d thought about it, and all the experience he had lying about his whereabouts in the past, couldn't think of a single explanation. Other than the truth. They already had so much to deal with, would it really be fair for him to tell them now? 

Would it be fair to keep lying to them either?

Danny thought about Elle, who still didn't have a home or any place to go. She'd spent almost a year of her life running from place to place, trying so hard not to be noticed. He thought about his friends and Jazz, who had to cover for him constantly. He thought about how his parents would react to just two years worth of lies, much less.. Whenever he next had the chance to tell them.

“I-” it'd be best if he just told them. Why was it so hard to make his voice work?

Just tell them, before you back out. He thought. “I think we should talk.”

Well. Not exactly what he'd had in mind, but it was a start.

“Of course. You can tell us anything,” Maddie said.

“Um,” Danny said. More people were in the waiting room now, and he didn't want to say in front of them. “Somewhere else?”

His parents agreed, and soon, they were in a hallway no one was using. Elle, Sam, and Tucker stayed in the waiting room with Sam and Tucker's parents. 

How did he start this conversation? He’d thought about it a lot, but nothing concrete. Nothing real. He never actually planned to tell them properly. He looked to Jazz for help.

She put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. He smiled at her, though it was strained. Then he focused his attention on his parents again.

“I need you to not freak out,” Danny said and wow that was a horrible conversation starter.

“Freak out about what?” Jack asked.

His brain scrambled to find a starting point to the explanation, and ended up deciding the portal would be the best starting point.

“You remember when you finished the portal but it didn't work and you were all disappointed? I went down there with my friends when you were gone one day and we looked at it and Sam dared me to go in and I tripped on some wires and fell and you left the on button inside and I hit it and I died,” Danny said, with very few pauses.

It took a second to process those last two words, but when it finally happened they were more confused and concerned than freaked out. 

“That's not possible, honey. You're here, and you’re alive and alright,” Maddie said.

“No but- I-,” and without thinking about the consequences, he changed. He felt his heart slow to a stop and the ice core in his chest spread a pleasant chill over his body. “I did.” 

And if his parents weren't surprised before, they were now. He could hear their heart rates pick up, no matter how much he didn't want to. Jazz stepped closer to him, while Maddie and Jack stepped away. Danny was relieved when Jazz took over talking for him.

“He’s been doing his best to protect the town. To protect us. I know you're misinformed about ghosts, and you don't want to believe it, but it's not too late to change,” she said.

And as Danny stood there, he could've sworn he’d never experienced anything as awkward or tense as this before. After what felt like ages, they pulled him in and hugged him, just as they'd done before. 

“I’m so sorry,” someone said. Danny wasn't sure who. 

He surprised himself when he started crying. He buried his face in their shoulders nonetheless. They stayed there for quite a while, until Jazz spoke up again. “The- uh- the representative will probably be coming soon. We should go.”

“Right,” Jack said.

Danny changed himself back, the white rings passing over him once more. They started walking and then Danny remembered something.

“There's something else. Someone,” Danny said. “I’ll explain the details later, but one of the ghosts, the one who looks like me but a girl, is my genetic clone and she doesn't have anywhere to stay.”

His parents looked at him and then each other before his father spoke up. “I guess we'll have to get another set of papers for her.”

“Really?” Danny asked. 

His mom nodded. “We can't just leave her.”

And soon enough, all the dread he’d felt not even half an hour ago melted away.

~~~~

Vlad Masters had all but given up. The day he’d released Pariah Dark was the worst day in his 200+ years of life, because it'd taken away everything he ever held dear. And it was his own fault. There was no one to blame but himself.

Twenty years after the dome went up, when Vlad realized he wasn't aging anymore, he’d made a show to the public of retiring from his company. He didn't, really. But his PR team, comprised mostly of alive-passing ghosts, had done well in making the public think he'd stepped down and handed it over to a new CEO.

The man it'd supposedly been handed over to, James Forland, was an actor. He was more than happy to pretend to be some wealthy company owner, with how much Vlad paid him compared to what he actually did. 

And the cycle kept going on. This was the first time Vlad himself had come back out as the company owner. He figured it'd been long enough that even if the public recognized him, they'd think it was just a coincidence, or that he just looked similar to the original founder. 

Over the years, Vlad had had a lot of time to think. He’d had a lot of time to reflect. Given that he'd assumed he’d never see his first love or the boy he’d have liked to make his apprentice again, he decided to do things in their memory. He'd started giving money he didn't need to charities. Some of it went to research or support programs (a lot of space things, because he knew Danny had liked space). He'd even started his own charities. One in particular was a housing program for those that couldn't afford housing on their own, or for whatever reason couldn't obtain a house.

When he heard about the collapse of the dome, he was shocked. He kept track of the news, because of course he did, but he didn't think that this try to break the dome would go any differently than the other ones. It did. And time had quite literally stopped. His loved ones, the town he’d once lived in, had been frozen in time, no pun intended. 

He jumped at the opportunity to reconnect, but he wasn't quite ready to talk to them in person yet. So, he sent his best representative instead. With any luck, things would go well. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all :)   
> I'm sorry it's been so long since I've last updated, but I just didn't know how I could possibly advance the story. I've figured it out, vaguely, but of course I don't know everything just yet.
> 
> I also had a lot going on during these last few months. I know it's not original or anything, but well,, a lot's going on. 
> 
> I officially have a therapist and she has unofficially diagnosed me with depression and anxiety. It makes,, a lot of sense fjdbdh I had a bit of an idea beforehand, but to actually be told that by a legit therapist feels weird. So,, if y'all find the way I write Danny in this a little too relatable, go see a professional jfbdbsbdb 
> 
> On a lighter note: it was so mcfreaking h a r d to write this stupid chapter holy hell. I kept getting held up because i couldn't imagine the scene properly like I do with my other stuff because it just didn't flow like I wanted it to, so if it seems strange, that's why. Also, I had one of my cats in my room while I wrote and while I was up to get some water he literally launched himself in my trash can to catch a mouse djdbbddjdhhshd he nearly knocked it over jumping out
> 
> Don't expect frequent updates, but I think there'll at least be more.


	7. Lighter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw for a bank robbery and the appearance of a gun, although nobody actually gets hurt. Starts after the -tw- line break and ends after the matching -its ok now- line break

The representative, a rather human looking lady called Marilyn, was.. Nice? She was very peppy and seemed to be excited about everything. She happily answered questions as the first group of townspeople boarded the first bus. It felt a lot like going on a school field trip to a museum, except none of his friends were on this bus. His family was, including Elle. 

Speaking of Elle, she was chatting with Maddie and Jack. She was very good at social interaction, it seemed, and although their situation was a little awkward, she talked with them relatively easily. 

Danny's phone, as he'd found soon after he'd woken up, didn't actually work to contact people. Tucker said he'd work on fixing them to properly function, but technology might've advanced far enough that he couldn't. (He’d said this with a lot more excitement than disappointment.)

He could still play flappy bird though. That was nice to find out. Without any internet, there wasn't a whole lot to do. He wondered if the social media apps he had still worked. Maybe they did but were obsolete. Myspace was a thing, like, 20 years ago, but he probably couldn't operate it. Well, 220 years ago. Man, that 200 year time leap was really messing him up.

Soon enough, the bus reached the houses. Danny was pleasantly surprised when he saw that they didn't look much different from the houses he knew. He felt comfortable with the buzzing of the electricity and the slight whoosh of grass. Marilyn read from a list of names each time they arrived at a new house, and the people called would get out and enter the house. 

Soon, the Fentons were called. They got off the bus. It was a one story house, rather unremarkable, but functional. Danny got out of the bus first, and Elle got out behind him, and then his parents, and Jazz. Elle elbowed his arm, one hand holding onto the strap of the backpack she carried. “Race you.”

She proceeded to run up the front steps of the house, before Danny could even register what she said. When he did, he ran after her and called, “Hey! Not fair!”

“It's not a competition, you two!” Jazz said from behind them.

Danny laughed as he rushed inside, using his enhanced hearing to search for where Danielle might be and found her a room over. He sped into the room, the living room, and tapped her on the shoulder quickly. “You're it.”

Zooming around the house in an impromptu game of tag felt like a weight lifting off Danny's shoulders. For once in the last four days since Pariah’s attack (because for them, it'd only been four days, which was a weird feeling), they felt normal. Good, even. They weren't in a hospital, waiting for more tests or vaccines or lab results, and they weren't hunkered down behind a building, waiting for one of Pariah’s minions to find them.

The house was blank and without furniture. It wasn't a home, not yet, but it very well could be, in time. 

~~~~

Two days later, a week since the whole thing had begun, Danny, Elle, and Valerie had met up. Elle had gotten a call (on a nifty new phone, given to her by the organization providing the housing, food, and other necessities) from Valerie, requesting to go on patrol together. It'd been quiet the last few days, since they'd all moved in. The ghosts who’d helped had been trapped out of the ghost zone, which theoretically, should've given them more time to mess stuff up, but they just didn't seem to be into it. The ghostly population must've been just as shocked as the living one. 

This meant that not only was it peaceful, but it was also kinda boring. Valerie had suspected that Elle was probably bored too, and Danny as well. So, she invited Elle and Elle invited Danny and all three of them met on a rooftop of some office building. 

“Should we split up?” Dani asked, hoping to at least diffuse the awkwardness a little.

Valerie had told Danny she knew about his secret identity and they'd come to a truce, but things were still weird. 

Danny shrugged, floating lazily in the air. “We probably won't find anything, right? So there's not much of a point.”

“From what I’ve heard, there are a ton of professional heroes anyway. This might be a little overkill,” Valerie considered.

Still, the three of them started in on a direction, Danny and Elle flying and Valerie on her hoverboard. It was quiet until all of a sudden it wasn't. There was a gunshot from somewhere below. The three of them shared a look and then dove for it. Danny, the fastest, got there first, followed by Valerie, and then Elle. Danny and Elle phased in, but Valerie couldn't. The doors were locked, but she was able to bypass it easily enough with a device she'd had in her suit. Convenient that digital locks hadn't changed much in 200 years. 

-tw gun & bank robbery-

It was a bank, being held up by some guy in a ski mask. Of all things to have happen, it had to have been some cliche movie trope. Unfortunately, he had a hostage. Fortunately, Valerie was the only present hero who was currently visible. 

“Let her go,” Valerie commanded the man. 

“I’m not gonna listen to some vigilante wannabe. Put down your weapons, or I’ll shoot,” he said.

Valerie’s ghost detector built into her visor was very helpful. Particularly in situations where she couldn't see ghosts. It showed her Dani’s position beside the man, and Danny’s position beside the woman he held hostage, who he was gently phasing out of his grip. All at once, Things Happened.

Valerie didn't do as he said. Instead, she nodded to Elle, who shot the gun out of his grip and away from the woman's head. She turned visible and bolted to pick it up before he could. Danny pulled the woman from the man’s grip and then focused his attention on the attacker. He pulled his wrists behind his back and bound them in ice that sprawled up his arms and frosted over his sleeves. Danny had more control over his powers than to do that on accident, so he probably just wanted to make life a little harder for the man. 

“Let me go!” the man yelped, squirming around in Danny's grip. 

Dani carefully made a green bubble of energy around the gun, suspending it in the center. Valerie let her weapons drop and holstered her own energy gun. It didn't harm the living, but her opponents didn’t need to know that. She helped the civilians up and waited with them while the police were called. Danny eventually got tired of hearing the robber’s angry ranting and bound his mouth shut with ice. 

-ok everything's chill now-

The police showed up not even a minute later, along with some dude dressed in green and pink spandex. Probably one of the professional superheroes Valerie mentioned. None of the three knew what exactly being a pro hero entailed, or how to become one, but the guy seemed okay.

He didn't talk to them much as the civilians were rounded up and taken statements from and the guy was arrested, but after everything cooled down, he brought them outside. He sighed and started talking.

“Listen, you're being let off with a warning today because you three have the excuse of being stuck in time for a couple hundred years and not knowing the rules, but you can't go around doing vigilante work, it's illegal,” he said. He sounded tired, not happy to be out tonight talking to two teenagers and a twelve year old about the legalities of vigilantism.

Danny rolled his eyes. “Sure. And what are you again? A man dressed in spandex, acting as a hero..”

“The difference is, I am trained for this and have a license. You do not,” the guy said.

“So how do we get a license?” Dani asked. 

“You have to go to a hero school, learn, and train. Then you'll be able to join the industry properly. There's a local agency who I’m sure would be happy to give you a pamphlet or something,” he said. “With who you are, any school would love to take you in.”

“Sounds ridiculous,” Danny said.

The guy almost looked like he agreed with Danny's assessment, although it was probably more so at the notion that a bunch of high schoolers could become professional heroes. “Regardless, if you do this again, the police will be forced to take you into custody.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See!!!! I told you I'd update soon!!! Are you proud of me??
> 
> Finally updating and pushing past the block of the last chapter was a huge help to get me back into not only the story but also My Hero Academia. I'll be honest and say that I haven't watched it in quite a while, and so my timeline may be a little screwy. 
> 
> With how I've planned this out, I am safely able to say that it's still a few more chapters before the main MHA characters really come into play. However! They will do so and it probably won't be too far off. 
> 
> I hope you like the littke reprieve from all the angst with the first bit of this, dw it gets better, I promise. Thanks for reading!! :)


	8. Conversation

On Monday, the tests were given out. Basic reading, writing, math, science, and history tests. Of course, the history tests only included up to the year 2020, because obviously no one would know anything about after that. It felt strange, knowing they’d be taught entirely new things. Even the adults took the tests, because science and math had advanced that much. 

Frankly, the tests were kinda boring. They were a lot of pressure as well, they'd dictate where they'd all be placed, education wise. But, Danny was done with them soon enough. He’d started around 10 AM and was done around three ish, with an hour break in between for lunch. 

Their scores wouldn't be announced for at least another week, but they'd be emailed when they were (and that was another can of worms that Danny didn't want to think about; emails still being around, that is.) Sam had already completed the tests when he finished, and Tucker finished about fifteen minutes later. Elle would more than likely take a few more hours, having never actually gone to a school before. 

Vlad had taught her how to read and write well enough, and basic addition and subtraction, but she'd assumed she didn't know near as much as a fourteen year old should. Now she’d find out for sure. 

Danny, Sam, and Tucker all made their way back to Danny's house, which wasn't that far away from the community center where they were being tested. Maybe a five minute walk, if that. 

“So,” Danny said, “I went out last night.”

“How'd it go?” Sam asked.

Danny shrugged. “Just a bank robbery. Val, Elle, and I stopped it before anyone got hurt. That’s not the interesting part, though.”

“So what is?” Tucker asked. 

“We met one of those pro hero people,” Danny said. “He told us that we have to go to some hero school and get training to go out and do the stuff.”

“Seems a bit like a waste, getting trained and stuff if you just have to hold up a second job and a secret identity with it. How else are you gonna pay the bills safely?” Tucker said.

Sam shook her head. “Apparently, secret identities aren't much of a thing anymore. And you get paid a lot for doing hero work.”

Sam seemed put off by her last statement but Tucker lit up. “How do I sign up?”

Sam elbowed his ribs and rolled her eyes. “The point of being a hero isn't to get paid, it's to help people.”

“I dunno, it'd be nice to be appreciated for helping people every once in a while,” Danny said. “And this way, if I go through with it, I don't have to worry about holding a job and also doing hero stuff at the same time. I was pretty worried I wouldn't be able to have a life.”

“I’m with you on that,” Tucker said, throwing an arm around Danny's shoulders. “And if you do, I’ll join you!”

“Didn't you want to be a computer programmer or something?” Sam asked, exasperated.

“Something like that. But I can do both! Playing around with electronics is expensive, and if you really get paid that much with hero work, I could fund the electronics thing until I get a big enough name to start a tech company successfully,” Tucker said.

“You can't even run the mile in gym,” Danny teased.

“Then I guess I have some work to do,” Tucker said. 

Sam sighed and ran her hand down her face. “If you're that insistent on doing this, I guess I have to help.”

“You'd do that?” Tucker asked.

“Against my better judgment, yes. But you guys have to do the research work on schools and the health qualifications and stuff,” Sam said.

“Yes!” Tucker cheered.

They reached Danny's house and entered. Maddie and Jack were nowhere to be found, but Danny and Elle had been told not to expect them home until around five or six, because grocery shopping and paperwork, along with the tests.

Tucker sat down in the living room and turned on the TV, mostly for background noise as he did research on how to hero. As he flipped through channels, deciding on which one would be best, one in particular caught his attention. He stared at the screen for a moment, speechless.

“Hey guys? You should come see this,” Tucker said.

Sam and Danny, who were in the kitchen for snacks, heard the uncharacteristically worried tone in their friends voice and came to look.

On the T.V, doing a press conference, was Vlad Masters.

“He’s still alive?” Danny asked.

“Looks like that, yeah,” Sam said.

“Yikes,” Tucker said.

Danny was very determinedly Not Thinking About the implications that'd have for him. Instead, he focused on what the press conference was about.

“So you've been sponsoring the people of Amity Park. How’s that been going?” a reporter, some dude with giant bat wings asked.

“It's been going quite well, I’d say. We're having the citizens take aptitude tests so that we can successfully reintegrate them into our society and soon they’ll be taking classes to catch up on all they missed,” Vlad said.

Several reporters spoke over each other, all fighting for their questions to be answered. 

“Hey, did they say where this is being streamed from?” Danny asked, standing up. 

“Dunno, but I bet I could find out,” Tucker said, taking out his phone.

Some speedy googling later and Danny was off to the Point Rock Park, the place where Vlad was.

Danny had already figured out by now that it'd be a horrible idea to confront Vlad while all of this was going on, so he settled for waiting in Vlad’s car in ghost form.

When Vlad saw Danny, he looked shocked for a solid second, before he broke out in a smile. Vlad, in all his gloriously self centered audacity, hugged him. Danny was expecting a lot of things but this. This was not one of them. He yelped and struggled to push Vlad away.

“What the hell?” Danny asked.

“It's good to see you,” Vlad said. 

And truly, what the actual hell. He didn't look like he had any malicious intent or anything, which just made things ten times creepier. He was so out of character to what Danny knew him to be that if Vlad hadn't greeted him with familiarity, Danny would’ve thought Vlad had some weirdly identical descendant. 

“I repeat: what the hell?” Danny said.

Vlad climbed into the car and the driver rolled down the dark glass partition. He was a ghost, and Danny was almost relieved that Vlad was still employing ghosts to do things for him after all these years. “Take us to that nice cafe I like. The one with the scones.”

“Yes sir,” the ghost said. The glass rolled back up.

“I’m not having scones with you,” Danny said immediately.

“You don't have to,” Vlad said, an eyebrow raised and amusement in his voice. “But we should talk regardless.”

Danny crossed his arms and folded his legs under him. “I’m listening.” 

“It's been two hundred years,” Vlad said.

“Wow really? I hadn't noticed,” Danny said, shoving as much sarcasm in his voice as possible.

“And I’ve changed,” Vlad finished his sentence. “After nobody could find a way to destroy the dome, I felt bad. It was my fault to begin with and then I’d lost everything I loved.”

“Creepy sentiment but accurate enough,” Danny said.

Vlad sighed and rubbed his temple as if he had a headache coming on. “I started funding things I thought you and your mother and sister would approve of. Healthcare for those who couldn't afford it, research into underfunded fields of science, etcetera. I completely rebranded myself and I went to therapy. I have a therapist now, Daniel. Two hundred years ago, I wouldn't have even considered it.”

“So? What are you getting out of this?” Danny asked.

“Nothing. Well, money, but that's not why I’m doing it. I want to be a better person, the sort of person that you would approve of,” Vlad said.

“Oh sure, like I believe that,” Danny crossed his arms.

To his credit, Vlad didn't attack Danny for his disbelief, which was at least one point in his favor. Of course, that wasn't a free pass, but it was something.

“Do you want to be a hero?” Vlad asked, which was an abrupt change of subject.

“I already am,” Danny said.

“There are rules now, Daniel. You can't keep hitting things and hoping for the best,” Vlad said.

“I know,” Danny said. “But what do you care anyway?”

“I’m willing to pay for you to go to a hero school. Your pick, anywhere you want. I’ll even pay for your little group of friends. I want to prove to you that I’ve changed,” Vlad said.

“Well, not that much if you still think throwing money at a problem is going to fix it,” Danny said. “I’ll think about it.”

“I suppose that's all I can ask,” Vlad said.

Danny sat there and stared at him for a moment. Then, Vlad blinked and the boy was gone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh yeah, this exists too.
> 
> I've had this chapter in the works since I posted the last one, but life has been getting really busy recently and I got into a new fandom called No Evil. It's got like,,, no fan content so I decided to make a ton for it and I've been super focused on that and kiiiinda forgot that any other fandoms exist. If you guys wanna go watch No Evil by Betsy Lee on YouTube and help me fill out the fandom tag here on AO3 that'd be pretty neat 👀
> 
> Comments really do help me post more often, so please do leave them!!

**Author's Note:**

> Listen. I don't actually know where I'm going with this. I don't expect this to get attention. I just wrote this and thought the concept was good enough to post. If there's anyone who legitimately wants more let me know. I have zero plans and I'm making this up as I go with no beta reader and no editing. The BNHA universe is 200 years in the future to us and I moved the DP timeline up so I can write it more comfortably. The main DP trio are all 16, Jazz is 18, Dani is 14, Valerie is 17. It's been 2 years since Danny's accident in their time. No ages of BNHA characters have been altered.


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